Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance

I note that this has come from the senate and not the gov. SSJoe it appears has been forced to jump in at the end and do a bit of blustering.

The leaders of Australia's biggest companies and foreign multinationals, including Apple, Google and coal miner Glencore, are expected to be hauled in front of a parliamentary inquiry into tax avoidance. 

The Senate voted on Thursday to establish the inquiry after the release of a report – revealed by Fairfax Media on Monday – that found almost one-third of the nation's largest companies are paying less than 10¢ in the dollar in corporate tax. 

It estimated up to $80 billion could have been forgone by the Australian Tax Office over the past decade due to the complex tax-minimisation strategies employed by the biggest 200 sharemarket-listed companies. 

The inquiry by the Senate Economics References Committee will be conducted in the shadow of the G20 leader's summit in Brisbane in November, where Treasurer Joe Hockey has vowed to lead an assault on corporate tax avoidance by multinationals. Read more

Step in the right direction, but oh please Joe, stay out of it. SSJoe on the warpath over corporate tax avoidance? *pffffft* Here he is with the biggest tax avoider of all.